Thomas took a giant step on his path back to playing in an NBA game when he scrimmaged 5-on-5 with the Canton Charge of the G League on Dec. 21. He learned that he has to find his basketball stroke before suiting up with the Cavs.

Head coach Tyronn Lue said Thomas won’t play with the Cavs against the Warriors on Christmas Day in Oakland. Thomas is fine with that plan.

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“That was a target for my kids,” Thomas said. “They’re mad, but I’m fine with it. I have no rhythm, so there’s no way I can play in an actual NBA game right now.”

Cavaliers’ trainers and doctors as far back as training camp in late September set late December or early January as a target date for Thomas to return. That could mean a road game in Utah on Dec. 30 or a home game against Portland on Jan. 2 are possible return dates.

Thomas would love to get at least one game under his shoes before the Cavaliers play the Celtics in Boston on Jan. 3. Thomas definitely doesn’t want to miss that game against his former team.

The Celtics made Thomas the centerpiece of the trade they used to acquire guard Kyrie Irving from the Cavaliers. Thomas is happy with his new team, but he also wants to remind the Celtics what they traded away.

First things first, though — Thomas has to get into game shape. He doesn’t want to play in any games until he’s ready.

“I have to get into shape,” he said. “That was probably the toughest part (in the scrimmage), running up and down constantly and being a little winded. The basketball part — I probably had a smile on my face the whole practice. I felt like a basketball player again.”

The hip injury goes back to March of 2017 when the Celtics were playing Minnesota and Timberwolves’ center/forward Karl-Anthony Towns stepped on Thomas’ hip. Thomas played through the injury until aggravating it in Game 2 of the conference finals to the point where he couldn’t continue.

Thomas chose to not have surgery. The Celtics sent Thomas, forward Jae Crowder, center Ante Zizic, the Nets first-round pick in 2018 and Miami’s second-round pick in 2020 to the Cavaliers for Irving.

• Despite playing all 33 games without Thomas and 26 games without Derrick Rose, the Cavaliers will take a 24-9 record into their showdown with the Warriors. The game between the rivals that met in the last three NBA Finals lacks some luster because Warriors star Steph Curry is sidelined with a sprained ankle and won’t play.

• This really defies explanation. LeBron James not only has played in every Cavaliers game this season. He leads the league in minutes played. And he turns 33 on Dec. 30.

James has played 1,232 minutes, and average if 37.3 minutes a game. Second in minutes played is Jrue Holiday of the New Orleans Pelicans with 1,176 minutes played. Holiday is 27 years old.

James also has a league-high 357 field goals. He’s first in the league with 305 assists and tied for 10th in the league with 233 defensive rebounds. The season hasn’t hit the halfway point, but James is putting up MVP numbers again. He has been named MVP four times in his amazing career.